Aphrodite's Scheming
by alx152
Summary: When Nico goes to the Underworld and returns with Luke Castellan, Annabeth has conflicted feelings. Meanwhile, Percy likes Jason- and Percy and Annabeth's relationship takes a turn because of it. Eventual Lukabeth, Reynabeth, Jercy, and one-sided Percico. Takes place from SoN to present. ATTENTION- I will not be updating as often due to school, but this story is not cancelled.
1. Nico

**Disclaimer:** I don't own PJO or HoO, they belong to Rick.

**NICO DI ANGELO WAS JEALOUS. **He couldn't stand the fact that Annabeth and Percy were together. When Nico saw Percy at Camp Jupiter, missing his memory, he went back to Camp Half-Blood. There, he found out about Hera's scheme to unite the two camps, and how Annabeth had left to search for him. It was too good to be true. He could try to make a move on Percy, who wouldn't remember Annabeth at all. But what would Annabeth do to him when she found out? And what would happen if Percy got his memory back? Nico needed to think- or _not_ think, for that matter. He faded into the shadows, not knowing where he would go.

The darkness stretched out before him, morphing into the artificial grassy fields of the Elysium. Nico didn't know why he had ended up here- the only reason he came here before was to talk to Bianca. But he knew Bianca wouldn't just magically reappear; she was gone, reborn into the world as some other life form. So why, then, did his shadow travel take him here?

He wandered around aimlessly, like a soul in the Fields of Asphodel. He saw spirits, the souls of heroes and those chosen by the gods, playing sports, reading, swimming- whatever they pleased to spend their time doing. He even spotted a man reading a newspaper, which made Nico curious as to what could possibly be on it since nothing interesting ever happened here. Nico was still pondering over that when he saw a face that looked vaguely familiar.

"Luke?"

Nico had met Luke before- a few times, in fact- but when Nico had known him, he was evil, and his eyes were golden and fierce looking. Without Kronos's spirit possessing him, his eyes were pale blue, and warm and comforting. He could see why Annabeth liked him. Nico had heard how Luke killed himself to defeat Kronos of course, but seeing him in person, in Elysium, still surprised him.

"Huh?" Luke asked, looking up to see Nico. "Do I know you? You don't look dead."

Nico laughed at that, a sound foreign to him. Maybe a ghost could tell the difference between the living and the dead, but between his pale olive complexion and the fact that he liked to wander the Underworld in his free time talking to ghosts made the other campers think Nico might be one. As a child of Hades, they weren't completely wrong.

"I'm Nico," he explained, "and I'm a son of Hades. I'm friends with Percy and Annabeth, and I helped them fight you when you were being possessed by Kronos."

"Oh. So… why are you here?" Luke questioned.

"I…" Nico started. "I don't know."

"Okay," he responded, "well it was nice meeting you, I guess."

He turned to leave. "Wait!" Nico shouted. "I can take you back. Death isn't holding. You could come back to life. I've already brought one of my half-sisters back." He wasn't sure why he had offered it. He barely knew Luke, but it was too late to take back the order.

"Do you mean it? I could see Annabeth again? And Thalia?"

"Yeah, I really mean it. So… you coming? Or not?"

Sorry the chapter was so short, this was my first time writing fanfics and it seemed a lot longer on Word. I'll try to make the next chapters longer.


	2. Luke

**LUKE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. **Could he trust this guy? Sure, he claimed to be friends with Annabeth, but so what? If Luke had learned anything from  
when he was on that quest, traps _always_ seem appealing at the beginning. Besides, this guy looked kinda sketchy. He looked maybe 13 or 14, with a gaunt, pale olive face and messy black hair. Not to mention the black clothes and the silver skull ring. And that sword gave him the creeps, even as a ghost. No, Luke decided, he would not trust this guy. Not until he gave some proof that he was really friends with Annabeth.

He seemed to sense his thoughts. "You're wondering if you can trust me," Nico said. It was more of a statement than a question. "I don't blame you. Even to my friends I seem untrustworthy. But I can't bring you Annabeth- she's too busy scouring the country looking for Percy. I can't bring you Thalia, as she joined the Hunters of Artemis. And I can't bring you Percy, since he lost his memory." Seeing Luke's confused face, he added, "Long story. But you'll hear all about it if you come back to camp with me. Anyway, there is someone I can bring- my half-sister, Hazel, who I also brought from the Underworld."

"And how can I trust her? You could be tricking me."

"If you don't want to believe me, then don't. I don't even know why I offered to take you back in the first place. So, let me ask again- are you in? Or are you out?"

* * *

Luke waited. In a few minutes (or was it a few hours? Time was hard in the Underworld), the boy strode out of a patch of shadows with a girl who he assumed must be Hazel, in tow.

"This is Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto," Nico told him, confirming his thoughts. "Hazel- this is Luke Castellan, one of Percy's old friends."

Hazel stuck her arm out to shake his hand, but retracted it with an embarrassed "oh" upon remembering he was a ghost. "Nice to meet you. Is this what Elysium is like? When I died…" She drifted off, the blackout hitting her like a wall. Still holding Nico's hand, she plunged back in time to her trial. Nico barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Oh gods, what happened? Is she alright?" asked Luke. She couldn't have died, could she have? No. If she died in the Underworld, we would have seen her turn into a soul. Nevertheless, Luke was still worried.

"She's fine," Nico assured him, "it's just the aftermath of her old life. Ever since I brought her back from the Fields of Asphodel, she's been having these flashbacks." He directed his attention to Hazel. "Hazel. Hazel!"

"Okay, I believe you now. So how exactly are we getting out of here?"

* * *

Luke was confused. "Where are we? This isn't Camp Half-Blood."

"This is the other camp- Camp Jupiter, the camp of the Roman demigods. This is where I brought Hazel after bringing her back from the Underworld. This is the Pluto cabin," Nico told him, gesturing to the cabin which they had appeared behind. "It's where Hazel lives."

The cabin was black, with gems and bones littered in its periphery. The glare coming from the roof told him there were more on the roof.

"Don't touch any of the gems, bad things will happen."

"I wasn't going to. How did…"

"How did they get here?" Nico finished. "That's part of Hazel's curse- when she gets nervous, or angry, or any sort of built up emotion, whatever precious gems or metals are buried near her will rise up from the earth. But if she gives them to anyone, or sells it to them, or they find it and take it, they end up dead within the week. Anyway—"

Nico stopped abruptly and froze. Walking toward them was none other than the Son of Poseidon himself. Luke started to walk over to Percy, but Nico stopped him. "He absolutely _cannot_ see you. If he does, it might stunt his memory."

"Why is that a bad thing?" questioned Luke.

"It just is, alright?" stated Nico, clearly getting agitated. "Get inside, quick."

They ducked into the cabin and laid Hazel down on her bed. Nico scribbled a note and left it on her pillow.

"Grab my hand," commanded Nico, "We're leaving."

"Where are we going?"

"Camp Half-Blood, of course," answered Nico, as the shadows enveloped them.


	3. Jason

** JASON WAS TAKING A BREAK **from working on the _Argo II_. He sat down alone at the Zeus table, with his plate of food- after, of course, he had burned some for his father, as the rest of the campers urged him to do. Jason thought this was a little odd at first, but had gotten accustomed to it. He looked around and saw that the other tables were also quite empty, even though it was noon- almost everyone was either working on the warship or looking for Percy. Jason frowned, wondering if Reyna had sent people out looking for him. The Hephaestus was empty, as usual, save for Jake Mason- who was finally out of his full body cast. Leo was working 24/7 with the rest of Cabin Nine. He barely ever took breaks, even to eat or sleep, unless they forced him to.

Something in the distance caught Jason's eye- Nico had just strode out of the shadows under Thalia's Pine Tree on Half-Blood Hill, with a stranger next to him. The guy must have been at least twenty years old. He had sandy blond hair, not unlike his own. As they got closer, Jason saw he had pale blue eyes, which despite seeming warm were also bold and piercing. A long scar ran from his eye to his chin. He was handsome, maybe even more so with the scar. Something was vaguely familiar about him, but Jason couldn't put his finger on it.

Looking around, Jason found he wasn't the only one fascinated by the stranger. Some of the campers stared at him with gaping mouths, others gave him angry looks. He heard others whispering to each other as the man and Nico walked over to get their food. Jason listened, and he caught a name- _Luke._ Suddenly he realized why he looked familiar; he had seen him before, in pictures- pictures taped to the wall of Cabin One, next to his sister's bed. But that shouldn't be possible- Annabeth said Luke was _dead_. How then, could he possibly be here?

Luke, pretending not to notice all the talking about him, sat down as casually as possible at the Hermes table. Nico walked to the Big House, most likely to fetch Chiron. Meanwhile, news had spread to the ship, and a crowd of disbelieving campers rushed toward the picnic area, all trying to see if the rumors were true. Travis and Connor were at the head of the crowd, obviously eager to know if they were still head counselors or not.

After a few minutes of stealing glances and whispering, Nico returned with Chiron. The whispering stopped as soon as Chiron started speaking.

"Luke!" called Chiron. "Welcome back! Could you please come with me? We have some… matters to discuss."

Luke looked up with a surprised look, as if just now noticing the campers staring at him. "Chiron! Nice to see you again, too," he said sarcastically as he got up from his seat. As they walked back to the Big House, Nico stood awkwardly alone where Chiron and Luke were. The campers shot him suspicious looks, obviously convinced the Ghost King had resurrected Luke Castellan. After lunch, Jason went to the Hades cabin to confront Nico- but he was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

That night at dinner, Chiron made a speech.

"As many of you know, a camper has returned. For those of you who did not know him, his name is Luke Castellan, former head counselor of the Hermes Cabin. Despite the fact that he fought for Kronos in the Battle of Manhattan, he committed suicide just to defeat the Titan. Yes, you heard me right. Luke Castellan is back from the dead!"

Some applauded nervously, but it quickly died out.

"So, you see the problem here. 'How could he come back if he died,' you ask. It has come to my attention that death is not holding- which is both good, and bad. It is good, because it gives us heroes who died in combat, such as Luke here- but it is also bad, because as some of you may have observed, it also means that monsters will not return to Tartarus once they are slain. They immediately begin to reform, which means that as long as this problem continues, we cannot issue any quests or allow anyone to leave camp. Do not think that this is not being taken care of, though- a certain demigod has discovered the problem, and assured me that the Romans are taking care of it. He also wanted me to make sure you know that our own Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon, is one of those brave demigods that have been sent on this quest- so don't be alarmed or upset thinking that your fate lies in the hands of the Romans. This also means that those searching for Percy have been called back to camp, and will stay here until we have word that it is safe, and that Mr. Jackson has returned from his quest. That is all. Thank you."

Jason had a hunch before, but now he _knew_- it was Nico di Angelo who brought Luke back. Nico also knew where Camp Jupiter was, and opted not to tell them- even though he must've known about the search parties scouring the country looking for their 'oh-so-great Percy Jackson.' Jason understood why Nico hadn't alerted the camp- he knew Percy was meant to go on this quest, and he didn't want to mess with Juno's plan. All they could do at the moment was to work on the ship, and try not to think about what was going on at the Camp Jupiter.

* * *

Hey guys- just letting you know, I start school tomorrow. This means that I won't be able to update the story as often. Thanks to everyone for their support.


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